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Annie Lee Cooper was born on June 2, 1910 as Annie Lee Wilkerson in Selma, Alabama, one of ten children of Lucy Jones and Charles Wilkerson Sr. By the seventh grade, Cooper dropped out of school, and moved to Kentucky to live with an older sister.[1]

In 1962, Cooper returned to Selma to care for her elderly mother.[2] Appalled by the fact that although she had been a registered voter in Pennsylvania and Ohio she was unable to register to vote in Alabama, Cooper began to participate in the Civil Rights Movement.[3] Her attempt to register to vote in 1963 resulted in her being fired from her job as a nurse at a rest home.[2] She then worked as a clerk at the Torch Motel.

In January 1965, Cooper stood in line for hours outside the Dallas County Courthouse to register to vote until Sheriff Jim Clark ordered her to vacate the premises. Clark prodded Cooper in the neck with a billy club until Cooper turned around and hit the sheriff in the jaw, knocking him down. Deputies then wrestled Cooper to the ground as Clark continued to beat her repeatedly with his club.[4] Cooper was charged with "criminal provocation" and was escorted to the county jail, and then held for 11 hours before being allowed to leave. She spent the period of her incarceration singing spirituals.[5] Some in the sheriff's department wanted to charge her with attempted murder.[6] Following this incident, Cooper became a registered voter in her home state.[1]

On June 2, 2010, Annie Lee Cooper became a centenarian. Reflecting on her longevity, she stated, "My mother lived to be 106, so maybe I can live that long, too."[1] On November 24, 2010, Cooper died at the Vaughan Regional Medical Center in Selma, Alabama.[6]

In the 2014 film Selma, Cooper was portrayed by Oprah Winfrey.[7] Winfrey said that she took the role "because of the magnificence of Annie Lee Cooper and what her courage meant to an entire movement."[8]

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